


At the end of the road

by croissantbleu



Category: Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency (TV 2016)
Genre: (kinda), Canon Compliant, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Getting Together, Jealousy, M/M, Post-Season/Series 02, Road Trips, unsafe motorcycle riding, wear a helmet y'all they're just idiots
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-05
Updated: 2018-02-05
Packaged: 2019-03-14 06:23:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,427
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13584150
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/croissantbleu/pseuds/croissantbleu
Summary: “Remind me why you’re driving again?” Todd asked, holding tightly onto the door handle as they hit another hole in the road.“Because,” and Dirk sounded way too happy about that, “I can’t read a map, and you can’t read it and drive at the same time.”“Do you even know how to drive?”“Of course I do!” Dirk replied, sounding almost offended. “I could even drive with my eyes closed if I wanted to, look-”“Okay, okay!” Todd interrupted him. “No need for that, just- just look at the road, okay? Please.”Or the one where Todd and Dirk go on a roadtrip for a case





	At the end of the road

“Remind me why you’re driving again?” Todd asked, holding tightly onto the door handle as they hit another hole in the road.

“Because,” and Dirk sounded way too happy about that, “I can’t read a map, and you can’t read it and drive at the same time.”

“Do you even  _ know _ how to drive?”

“Of course I do!” Dirk replied, sounding almost offended. “I could even drive with my eyes closed if I wanted to, look-”

“Okay, okay!” Todd interrupted him. “No need for that, just- just look at the road, okay? Please.” Dirk just laughed. “Why are you so enthusiastic about this? I thought you’d hate it, being on the road for days at a time, maybe more. You do realize we have no idea where we’re going, right?”

“Exactly!” Dirk threw his hands in air for emphasis, but quickly put them back on the steering wheel before Todd really had a heart attack. “That’s part of the fun. Besides, you really should be used to not knowing exactly where we’re going by now, that’s kind of what we do here. And I quite like being on the road actually, I mean it’s nice to have a place to settle-”

“You mean my apartment,” Todd pointed out.

“-but this kind of reminds me of when I left Blackwing, you know?” Dirk continued, not paying attention to the interruption. “Being able to go wherever you want to go, that was a big change for me, obviously. I spent a lot of time just going to places and exploring them for no particular reason, just because I  _ could _ . I taught myself how to drive on an empty parking lot with an abandoned car,” he laughed a little and Todd realized he’d been awfully quiet, more than he usually was.

It was just that- Dirk didn’t talk about what happened after Blackwing. Ever. Sometimes, he almost forgot that he’d been out for fifteen years. Dirk rarely talked about the past in general, actually, he didn’t remember hearing him talking about before they met, except for some passing mentions here and there.

“Wait, you learned how to drive by yourself, on a parking lot, with a  _ stolen car _ ? No wonder you’re so bad at driving,” he commented, trying to change the subject.

“Hey,” Dirk objected. “First of all, it was an abandoned car and I didn’t  _ steal _ it, I…  _ borrowed  _ it.”

“You b- you know that’s not how it works, right? What, did you return it to its owner afterwards?”

“Of course I didn’t Todd, how would I have done that? Don’t be ridiculous.”

Todd noticed the little smile playing on Dirk’s lips, and he decided he liked that a lot better than the gloomy look he had just after mentioning Blackwing. That was probably why he never talked about it, because it just brought back too many memories he’d rather not think about. And if there was one thing Todd was quite good at, it was deviating discussions away from uncomfortable subjects, so that’s just what he was doing now.

“Just- focus on driving, okay? Try to avoid sending us off road, I'd appreciate it.”

He heard Dirk chuckle slightly, and put on on the radio, music filling the air around them.

*

They took two rooms at a motel for the night, so they could both get enough rest to get through the next days. 

Sat on his bed, Todd was looking down at his phone. He was considering calling Amanda, but then remembered she said she'd rather not be bothered for a few weeks, she had other stuff to deal with. He hadn't asked, he had learned that if she didn't want to talk about the Rowdy 3’s business, there was no use in trying. He briefly thought of calling Farah, but he really didn’t have anything new to tell her and it really wouldn’t be useful. Mostly, he just wanted to sleep. Who knew when they’d get to sleep in a real bed after that.

Of course, the next morning, Dirk had insisted to stop at the bakery nearby to get some coffee and something to eat while Todd waited in the car. And,   _ of course _ he had to come back with a box of donuts covered in so much sugar even looking at them felt like a bad idea.

“Tell me you at least got black coffee,” Todd said as Dirk got in the car.

“Of course I have. Well, for you at least,” Dirk said, passing him a cup.

“What did you get then?” he asked before taking a sip, nearly choking on it. “That is  _ not _ black, holy shit what’s even in there?”

“Oh, that must be mine then, sorry,” Dirk apologized as he took the cup from Todd's hand and replaced it with the other. “And I don't really know what it's made of, to be honest, seems to be mostly sugar I couldn’t resist it.”

“Dirk,” Todd said slowly. “That is  _ a lot _ of sugar. And- other stuff, probably. And you have ADHD. You know those things are rarely a good combination for you, right?”

“Come on Todd, it’ll be fine! I know what I’m doing.”

“Your whole thing is not knowing what you’re doing, come on. Okay,” he added after a bit. “I’ll let you have it if you let me drive. I’m not letting you drive on a sugar high, that should probably be illegal.”

“I am not sure you really are qualified to talk about what should or shouldn’t be illegal,” Dirk replied, and he was doing that stupid thing again where he was looking at Todd from above because he was stupidly taller than him, with that stupid smart smirk. “I mean, you  _ were _ wanted by the FBI, after all.”

“You- we didn’t do anything, that was all Blackwing’s fault!” Dirk chuckled and Todd realized he was just trying to annoy him, as usual. “That is not a valid argument, get out of here, I’m driving,” he added, already opening the car door.

Dirk sighed exaggeratedly but still got out of the car and switched places with Todd.

“I’m only agreeing to this because the universe is telling me to, not because I think you’re right,” Dirk said. “I feel like I should clarify. I could totally drive the car and have this drink.”

“Maybe you could,” Todd replied, “but that doesn’t mean that you should.”

“Mmph, fine,” Dirk sighed, sitting back in his seat and taking a sip of his drink.

Todd barely held back a smile at that, and started the car.

*

The day had been going fine until the engine made a strange noise, almost like a gunshot sound. Granted, Todd didn't know shit about cars, but that couldn't be a good sign. That impression was confirmed soon enough by the car coming to a stop just after Todd managed to pull over. 

“Ah come on, fucking hell,” he slapped his hands on the wheel. “This has to be a joke.”

“I could try giving it a look?” Dirk offered.

“Do you know anything about how cars work?”

“Well… no,” he confessed, tilting his head a little bit. “But I don’t really see anyone else here, and I doubt you know anything more than I do, am I correct?”

“It can't do any harm, I guess, so go ahead,” Todd said.

Dirk smiled and pulled up the sleeves of his shirt before getting out of the car, and Todd totally wasn’t stealing glances at the muscles of his forearms. He quickly averted his eyes and followed him outside. Dirk had already opened the hood and was holding it up and, hell, Todd couldn't tell if he had recently been lifting weight or if his pose was just accentuating it. Probably a bit of both.

“Could you hold this please? The… thing is broken, apparently. Thanks,” Dirk smiled when Todd grabbed the hem of the hood.

"Ah," Dirk sighed after looking at the engine for a while. "I'm sure Mona could fix that a lot easier than me, I mean she has a very unfair advantage considering she can become whatever she wants."

And Todd knew it was such a ridiculous thing to get upset about, but he really couldn't help it. Not that he was known for having a lot of control on his temper anyway.

"Okay, what's the deal with Mona? Is she- what, your girlfriend?"

"What?" Dirk looked at him as if he'd suddenly asked why he had three heads. "No, of course not. You know that."

"How would I know that?" Todd said, exasperated. "Have you heard yourself? You keep talking about her like she's the eighth wonder of the world and like, she's great, but you  _ always _ talk about her."

"How would you kn- because I'm gay, Todd," Dirk answered as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Come on, I know you're not a detective, but I thought you knew  _ that _ .”

"Then why- why do you keep bringing her up for no reason?"

"Because it's fun to watch you get riled up! You're very easy to read, you know, you should work on that just in the eventuality there's someone out there that could use that as a weak spot. But that's not the point- I don't think I can do much here.”

“What, so you mean we're stuck here?”

“I'm afraid so,” Dirk stood back up and closed the hood of the car. “It doesn't look like much people use this road and it’s already starting to get dark. I doubt we'll get any farther today.”

Todd nodded. “Yeah, you're right. I guess we just have to wait, then.”

*

Todd woke up suddenly, and was hit by panic for a second or two before he remembered he’d slept in the car and he wasn't just trapped somewhere. He took a deep breath to calm himself before risking an attack and sat up, quickly looking at the front seats where Dirk had insisted to sleep, leaving Todd the back seats despite Dirk being the taller one.

Todd opened the car door and was greeted by a wave of cool air. It was late into the night judging by how dark it was, but the moon was shining bright enough that he could still see quite well. He walked around the car to find Dirk lying on the hood, feet on the roof.

“Oh hey,” Dirk smiled, turning his head to look at Todd. “You're awake.”

“You too,” he commented, climbing next to him and assuming the same position, head almost dangling upside down.

“I like the stars,” Dirk said, looking back at the sky. “It has been a while since I have seen a night so clear, where you can see them so well.”

It was true, the stars were shining particularly bright that night, and Todd couldn’t remember the last time he had had such a perfect occasion to stargaze.

“Look, it’s a full moon,” he said, pointing at it. “Maybe we’ll get to see werewolves tonight.”

Dirk laughed. “I think it’s a bit too late for werewolves, even they have gone to sleep by now.”

“Mmh, maybe. How disappointing. I’m sure Amanda would love to meet a werewolf, that’s totally the kind of thing that would make her laugh. And then she’d talk about it for ages. Ah man, now I wish I could see one just to brag to her about it.”

He heard Dirk chuckle.

“I'm glad you two are getting along again,” Dirk said.

“Yeah,” Todd smiled. “Me too.”

They stayed there in silence for a moment after that, Todd acutely aware of Dirk’s breathing next to him as they were looking at the stars. The air was starting to get colder, and if Dirk was wearing one of his dozens of jackets, Todd only had a T-shirt on and he was beginning to feel the hairs on his forearms standing up. Another small breeze washed over them, and Todd shivered.

“Are you cold?” Dirk turned to look at him, his hair all messed up by the wind. “Wait- here.”

He sat up and took off his jacket before lying back down.

“Come here,” he said, patting the space next to him. Todd scooted closer and Dirk laid the jacket on both of them. “There. Better?”

Of course, the jacket didn’t cover either of them completely, but that was better than nothing. Besides, Todd was too focused on breathing normally to really care.

“Yeah,” he said. “A lot better. Thanks, Dirk.”

Dirk smiled, of that stupidly proud-of-himself smile he had when he tried to hide his more genuine one.

“You’re welcome, Todd. Wouldn’t have wanted you to miss out on how beautiful this is because you’re too sensitive to the cold.”

Todd elbowed him in the ribs, and Dirk just laughed, the sound echoing in the emptiness of the night. 

“Do you know what I like the most about looking at the stars, like that?” Dirk said after a while, breaking the quiet.

“No, but I'm sure you're going to tell me.”

“It reminds me of when I was a kid, before Blackwing happened. I loved learning about space and how the Earth was formed, because I didn't understand my hunches at the time and all I knew was that… everything was connected. Everything had to happen for a reason. And that's true even at a comical level, and that- that was reassuring to know, as a child. That I wasn't just… making things up. It is still quite comforting, even today.”

Todd had slightly turned his head to look at him, and Dirk was just smiling at the sky, of a smile that was somehow sad and hopeful at the same time, and it made his heart hurt a little and he had to resist the urge to take Dirk's hand in his. He stayed silent for a bit, unsure of what to say. He wasn't exactly the best at talking about this kind of things.

“That's nice,” he ended up saying. “That it can help you, I mean. Maybe that's what we should get for the office, one of these things that project stars around the room, y’know? For more difficult days. I'm sure that'd be a good addition.”

“That's a great idea, Todd! This is why you're a good assistant.”

Todd just laughed and shook his head, but he saw the bright smile and the relief illuminating Dirk's face, and he decided that was the only thing that mattered right now.

*

Todd woke up for the second time in the back of the car, but this time with Dirk’s jacket draped over his shoulders. He was sure it wasn’t there when he had finally gone back to sleep, so Dirk had to be the one who put it there. He held back a sigh and a smile and sat up, and saw Dirk still asleep in the passenger’s seat. He looked so at peace and it was still so early -the sun hadn’t even risen yet, the sky had that pale grey colour it only had right before dawn- that Todd decided not to wake him up just yet. It wasn’t as if there was much they would do anyway, with that broken car. He put the jacket on Dirk’s shoulder and got out of the car as quietly as he could, fixing his hair as he took a few steps.

He stopped before the ground of the hill they were on went down, and sat on the grass. He stayed there for a while, listening to the early singing of birds and watching the sky slowly gain colours. It was nice, he thought, to see everything so quiet and calm for once. It was fair to say, calm hadn’t exactly been a constant in his life, recently. But he couldn’t really complain, everything had been much more interesting since Dirk broke into his apartment. 

He was so deep in thoughts he hadn't heard the door open and close, and he didn't realise Dirk was there until he sat down next to him.

“You're up early,” Todd said.

“So are you,” Dirk pointed out. “The sun is barely rising, look.” 

Todd started at the colours spreading in the sky, almost as if the atmosphere was catching fire.

“You know,” Dirk said after a while. “I have never seen a sunrise before.”

Todd turned around to look at him, Dirk’s face catching the red and golden tones. His hair was all disheveled from sleeping and Todd couldn’t help but laugh. 

“Your hair’s a mess, let me- here,” he said, reaching out to try and flatten the rebellious locks.

Dirk let him do so quietly, looking at him with a strange expression, and Todd was trying not to focus on how bright his eyes were. His hair looked almost golden when it caught the light and it was soft, a lot more than Todd would have expected.

“There,” he said eventually, putting his hand back next to him. “Now you look like a human being again.”

Dirk barely smiled at that and Todd was about to ask if everything was alright but he was faster.

“Can I kiss you?”

Todd lost the ability to speak for a second before managing to say anything again.

“I, uh. Yes?”

Dirk tilted his head to the side. “Are you sure? If you don’t want to-”

“No, I- No. I mean, yes, I want to.”

Damnit, Dirk had caught him by surprise and now he couldn’t remember how to form proper sentences again. That was so typically him. Dirk smiled and leaned in, and before closing his eyes Todd thought it was really the most stupidly cliché moment he had ever lived, probably. Dirk moved back suddenly, eyes wide.

“We have to leave.  _ Now _ .”

He scrambled back on his feet and tugged at Todd’s wrist to make him stand up, before quickly walking towards the car.

“What are you- why?” 

Dirk stopped and turned to look at him, looking completely serious.

“A hunch.”

Todd didn't discuss it any further and let him drag him towards the car.

“Take your things,” Dirk said. “We don't have much time. Come on!”

“Wait- I- Dirk!” Todd called out. “What's going on?”

“I don't know! I- I just know we need to leave, and quick. Please!”

“Okay, okay, sorry,” Todd said calmly. “Let's go. Where?”

“Through these woods,” Dirk pointed at them. 

“Okay,” Todd put his backpack on his shoulders. “Well let's go th-”

He was interrupted by Dirk taking his hand and tugging him forward again, towards the trees. He was walking too fast for him, Todd almost had to run to keep up.

*

“That's a terrible idea,” Todd said.

It had been a few hours since they left the car, and Dirk had finally calmed down a bit. He was agitated still, but he agreed that they needed to get food and they quickly stopped to buy sandwiches and get water. 

Neither of them had mentioned the kiss.

They were just about to get back to walking when Dirk had stopped in front of a motorcycle with a glint in his eyes that Todd really didn't like.

“I haven't said anything,” Dirk protested.

“ _ Yet. _ You're going to say that stealing this motorcycle is a great idea.”

“You agree!” Dirk smiled brightly.

“Of course not! I just said that was an awful idea, are you kidding. I can't even drive it,” Todd added.

“Oh but that's no problem,” Dirk was still smiling and that seemed like a bad idea. “I can.”

“You ca- what do you mean, you can?” Todd almost choked on air. “In what world can you drive a motorcycle?”

“Well, this one, obviously. And probably at least a few alternates realities. Alternate realities are fascinating, don't you think? I mean, there are just infinite possibilities - and I really mean infinite. It's just impossible to understand and I- I've been trying to think about that and all the implications it has but it's just- it's just huge, you know? I just end up with a massive headache but it's so  _ interesting _ .”

Todd couldn't help but smile a little at his enthusiasm. He had to admit, he always liked seeing Dirk so excited to talk about something.

“Dirk?” he said kindly. “I think I've lost you here.”

“Oh. Yes, right, sorry. Thank you. So, back to the point: we have to take this motorcycle.”

“It's not ours! I'm not going to steal it.”

Dirk rolled his eyes. “Oh come on Todd, now is not- Oh shit,” his expression changed suddenly. “We have to leave. Right now.”

“If you're only saying that to convince me of stealing it-”

“I'm not! This is serious. We need to get out of here.”

Before Todd could add anything, Dirk was already on the motorcycle and threw him a helmet.

“Wait-”

“There's only one,” Dirk said. “And since you don't trust my driving abilities, at least that could reassure you a bit. Maybe.”

“It doesn't reassure me if it means you end up with your head split open!” Todd protested. “I just…” he sighed. “It's too dangerous. I don't like this. At all.”

“I know,” Dirk smiled a little. “Look, I'll be careful, alright? We'll find something else when we can, but  _ right now _ we need to leave.”

“Okay,” Todd said eventually. “But you take the helmet. You're in front, you'd probably need it more. I don't know, just- put it on.”

“Okay,” Dirk said, taking the helmet back and putting it on. “Now come on, we have to go.”

Todd climbed behind him and hid his face behind his back to protect himself from the wind when Dirk started the motorcycle, arms holding on tightly.

*

It was already dark when they finally stopped at a hotel for the night. The woman at the reception had asked them to wait on a sofa while she finished her call so there they were, Dirk's head on Todd's shoulder, apparently half asleep. Todd didn't have the heart to wake him up before they actually had to move.

The woman walked up to them with a smile after a few minutes. Todd looked up at her.

“Hi,” she said. “I'm so sorry about the wait. We have one room left, you're in luck, but it's a two beds one if that's okay?”

Todd picked up on the subtext more easily than he would have thought possible.

“Oh, no, we're not- I mean, two beds is all fine, thank you.”

“Oh,” she said, tucking her hair behind her ear, bringing his attention on her short red hair and the freckles running across her cheekbones. “I'm sorry, I didn't mean to assume anything. I'm Amber, by the way,” she smiled again. “So, here's your key,” she handed it out to him. “I'm handling the night shift so don't hesitate to call the standard if I can help you.”

“Thanks, Amber,” Todd said, taking the key. “I'm Todd.”

“Oh, I almost forgot, sorry,” she apologized. “I would need a piece of ID as guarantee, you'll have it back when you check out.”

“Oh, sure, let me just- here,” Todd handed out his driving license.

“Thank you! Todd Brotzman, huh? That's a nice name.”

“Ah, well thank you? I'm sorry we should probably go now, thanks for your help.”

“Of course! That's why I'm here for,” she smiled. “Well, goodnight then, maybe I'll see you again tomorrow.”

“Maybe,” Todd smiled back before looking down at Dirk and elbowing him a little. “Come on Dirk, let's go.”

Dirk got up with a quiet groan, but followed Todd to the elevator without protesting. In fact, he was oddly quiet. Todd thought he was just tired, and didn't insisted. They got up to the room and both went to sleep quickly, and Todd must've been exhausted as well because he passed out as soon as his head hit the pillow.

*

Todd woke up screaming. There was something on his legs, crushing them slowly, and all he could think about was  _ pain _ , this unbearable pain that he knew was caused by Pararibulitis but it didn't make any difference.

In only a second, there were soothing hands tracing light patterns on his arms and he could barely make up Dirk's voice, but he must've been able to say what was going on because suddenly the weight was gone and the pain started to recede, letting him able to breathe normally again after a couple seconds. He managed to open his eyes, and Dirk slightly sighed in relief and squeezed his shoulder.

“I'll get you a glass of water,” he said, standing up. “I'll be right back.”

He walked away and Todd pushed himself up to be sitting instead of lying down. Attacks were always exhausting, and he particularly hated having one at night that would wake him up, and just make him more tired.

“Here,” Dirk reappeared with a glass of water in hand, that Todd gladly took, and sat on the bed next to him. “How are you doing?”

Todd shrugged. “I’ll be fine. Attacks are just… stronger at night, and I hadn’t had one in a while. I wasn’t really expecting it. But it’s fine. Sorry for waking you up,” he added after drinking a little.

Dirk shook his head. “No, no, you didn't. Don't worry.”

Todd frowned. “It's, what, 3am, right? And you weren't sleeping?”

Dirk sighed. “No, I- I don't sleep well when it's too quiet. It's the ADHD,” he chuckled. “Usually I just put on a long video of someone talking - about anything really, I don’t care, the sound just helps me fall asleep more easily. I don’t know why,” he shrugged. “It works, so I’m not complaining. Didn’t use that today because, well, I didn’t want to bother you. Also because my phone is out of battery.”

Todd chuckled. “I mean if that's all it takes, I could just read something until you fall asleep,” he said. “I used to read to Amanda when she got Pararibulitis, she was so scared of having an attack in her sleep that she just stayed awake for hours. Reading to her calmed her down a bit.” He shrugged. “I'm just saying, that might help you too. You look like you haven't slept well in ages.”

Dirk’s face lit up. “You’d do that?”

“Yeah, sure. No problem at all. Come here,” Todd said, scooting to the side of the bed. “If you don’t mind? These beds are huge anyways, and it would probably defeat the whole purpose if I have to yell so you can hear me from the other side of the room.”

Dirk smiled. “Yeah, you're right.”

He laid down as Todd grabbed a book from the ones at disposition in the nightstand. 

“ _ The Lady with the Camellias _ ,” he read, sitting back up. “I think that's a French book. Let's give it a try, shall we?”

Dirk smiled and Todd started reading, checking up on him every few minutes. It didn't take long before he was deeply asleep. Todd put the book back on the nightstand and turned off the light, before closing his eyes again.

*

Todd woke up again, greeted this time by the sunlight pouring through the windows where neither Dirk nor him had bothered to close the curtains. He was slightly regretting that choice now. He blinked a few times to get used to the light before looking at Dirk still asleep next to him, rays of sunshine falling softly upon his face, and maybe Todd didn’t regret not closing the curtains anymore. Dirk stirred a little.

“Good morning,” Todd said.

"Good morning," Dirk said with a small smile before his face fell. "I thought you would've gone down to see Amber by now," he added.

Todd frowned. "What? Why would I do that?"

"Because," Dirk sat up. "You kept smiling at her yesterday and, and not that there's anything wrong with that but... you don't exactly smile that often, Todd. And she kept flirting with you and you didn't seem to really mind so..."

"You're just being ridiculous," Todd said. "This makes no sense. And I smile a perfectly normal amount of times, thank you very much. Did you think I, what, liked her? I've talked to her for less than five minutes, come on now."

"You really can't say anything," Dirk protested. "Need I remind you that you were jealous of  _ Mona _ ?"

"Yeah, well, I had good reasons, okay?” Todd stood up. “You're always just- just talking about her and how great she is and how she really saved your life back in Blackwing and like, I know that, alright? You don't need to bring her up every single time. What was I supposed to think? You never shut up about her!"

"What were you supposed to- I asked  _ you  _ to come along with me on this case, not her! Do I also have to remind you that I'm literally  _ living  _ with you, Jesus Todd are you really that bad of a detective?" Dirk said, eyes wide. "I kissed you, for God's sake!"

"Yeah, and you ran off right after," Todd scoffed. "You know if it was that horrible, you could've just told me instead of making us run through the woods like the Devil was after us."

"I ran off because someone was after us," Dirk objected. "That had nothing to do with you. Do you really- you really don't get it, do you? This is just ridiculous now."

"What don't I get?" Todd asked.

He didn't know why he was so upset, it was stupid, really. And he really didn't like arguing with Dirk.

Dirk sighed and closed his eyes, pinching the bridge of his nose. "That I'm in love with you," he simply ended up saying.

Oh.

_ Oh. _

"I- what?"

"You just had to make me say it, didn't you? Just- just forget it, alright? I need some air," Dirk said, getting out of bed and quickly putting his jeans back on before heading for the door. "I'll be back when you're ready to leave," he added without turning back, and left.

Todd hadn't even been able to react, still trying to wrap his mind around it. And suddenly, he scrambled to get his jeans and shoes on, and ran out of the room.

"Dirk, wait!"

He was still in the otherwise empty hallway, and stopped when Todd called out his name, turning around to face him and letting him catch up to him.

"What do you want?" Dirk asked. "I told you, it's stupid-"

"It's not stupid. I'm stupid, I'm sorry, I just- yeah. I mean," Todd breathe deeply. "I- I love you too."

Dirk tilted his head to the side. "Do you... mean that?"

"Yeah," Todd chuckled. "Yeah, I do. I really do."

Dirk stepped forward and brought him into a hug and Todd couldn’t stop the grin blooming on his face. Then the realization hit him.

“Dirk,” he said slowly. “You wouldn’t have taken the room’s keys, by any chance?”

“No, why- Oh.” Dirk took a step back. “We’re locked out.”

“Damnit,” Todd sighed. “What now? All our stuff’s in there.”

“The window? It isn’t locked. Wait for me here, I’ll be right back,” Dirk said, running to the stairs.

“Dirk wait that’s… a terrible idea,” he sighed, knowing too well there was no use in trying to dissuade him.

He was already gone anyway. Besides, this wouldn’t be the first time he got somewhere by going through the window, Todd still remembered how he broke into his apartment. He decided waiting there for a bit couldn’t hurt, he’d go look for Dirk after a couple minutes if he didn’t hear from him before that. He was just about to leave when he heard a loud noise from inside the room.

“Dirk? You okay in there?”

He heard footsteps, then the door opening, and Dirk was behind it, smiling proudly.

“There, I told you I’d make it.”

“Of course you did,” Todd shook his head. “Let’s pack up and go, if you’re ready.”

Dirk nodded and let him in. They quickly gathered their stuff and soon enough, they were all ready to leave.

“Wait,” Dirk said when Todd was about to walk out the door again, making him turn around. “Can I?” he asked, gently putting a hand on his cheek.

Todd nodded and Dirk leaned in, and maybe the atmosphere wasn’t quite as special as a rising sunset, but maybe that didn’t matter at all. Todd stepped away and smiled, and took Dirk’s hand in his.

“Let’s go.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading! I hope you liked it, don't hesitate to comment if you did, or come talk to me on tumblr @/wavydanrises !


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